Ensuring health and well-being is important for life. Image processing is used more and more in health care for diagnosis and monitoring. For example, the human skin can be an indicator of an individual's well-being, in addition to being the literal face that we present to the world. Physical characteristics of the skin, such as such as the texture of one's complexion, severity and changes in a rash, bump, moles, hydration level, etc., all can provide insight into an individual's well-being. Yet, these characteristics are not yet widely utilized, as precise measurement typically requires specialized custom built imaging system or a visit to an expert. The specialized systems are expensive and bulky, as they need to operate under controlled lighting, appropriate camera angle, and proper distance from the object of interest. Visiting an expert's office is time consuming and costly. Neither of these approaches lends itself to personal daily use.
It is very attractive to use the cell phone to capture these images and provide the same functions of feature identification, e.g., for cosmetics guidance, diagnostics, or product identification. However, the cell phone is hand-held and human hands are shaky; the captured static image is often blurred and out of focus. Further, a subject photographing his own face cannot see the facial skin image at the time the image is taken, and therefore cannot determine if the camera is properly oriented and the image is in focus.